Pasta products are popular with consumers. This popularity may be attributed to a number of features of these products, including their storage stability, ease of preparation, and nutritional properties. However, many feel that pasta products by themselves do not have a particularly appealing flavor, and as such they are served and consumed with sauces which add flavor to the pasta such as alfredo, marinara, tomato, tomato with meat, etc. However, these sauces do have drawbacks. For example, alfredo sauces can contain undesirable levels of fat. Additionally, sauces must be prepared separately from the pasta, and generally are not nearly as convenient to prepare as the pasta. Thus it would be desirable to prepare a pasta product which has a good flavor without the need to separately add inconvenient, and in some cases fat-containing, sauces.
The present invention obviates these problems in that it provides a method for preparing pasta coated with edible coating materials such as cheese, including dried cheese, herbs, spices, seasonings and other flavoring agents. These coated pasta products are convenient and desirable to consumers in that they may be enrobed with coating materials which form a sauce when combined with water, thereby obviating the need for adding a sauce. Alternatively, they may be enrobed with coating materials which do not form a sauce when prepared by the consumer. In the latter form the coated pasta products may be consumed by themselves, without added sauces, and still provide for a flavorful pasta product, or may be consumed in conjunction with a sauce if so desired.
When pasta is coated with such edible coating materials, it is desirable to have the coating materials distributed as uniformly as possible on the product, thereby providing a substantially uniform taste sensation to the consumer. This may be accomplished in a number of ways. For example, the flavoring agents can be pre-mixed in a pouch and included in the same package containing the pasta. The pasta can then be heated in boiling water, and the premixed, packaged flavoring agents can be added to the boiling water. The water will act as a vehicle to provide a substantially uniform distribution of the seasoning on the pasta substrate surface. A more convenient method would be that of the present invention wherein the flavoring agents are attached directly to the surface of the pasta during processing of the pasta. This obviates the need for the additional step of separately adding the flavoring agents to the cooking medium of the pasta.
However, there are problems associated with the production of pasta products having the flavoring agents attached directly to the pasta surface. One particular problem is that typical pastas have a moisture content of approximately 12-13 percent by weight, and these typical pastas tend to brown during storage when coated with such edible coating material, especially if the edible coating material comprises a proteinaceous material. Another problem is finding a method for attaching the edible coating material so only minimal separation from the pasta surface occurs during processing, packaging, shipping and handling. Still another problem is obtaining a substantially uniform distribution of the flavoring agents on the pasta surface. Furthermore, while there are methods of attaching flavoring agents to the surfaces of the pasta, such methods involve the use of fats and/or oils as an attachment aid. This use of fats and/or oils during processing is potentially undesirable for a number of reasons, including the greater safety risks of fats and oils as compared to water and the generally recognized unhealthful aspects of such fats and oils when included in products such as those prepared in accordance with the present invention.
The present invention obviates these problems in that it provides an improved method of preparing a pasta product enrobed with flavoring agents, including seasonings, herbs and spices, wherein the attachment of the flavoring agents to the product surface is facilitated by water instead of oil or fat, wherein the flavoring agents are attached substantially uniformly to pasta surface, wherein there is only minimal separation of the flavoring agents from the pasta surface, and wherein, in a preferred embodiment, browning of the coated pasta during storage is minimized.
Another advantage of this enrobed pasta product is that since the edible coating material is already enrobed directly onto the pasta surface, the consumer may prepare a serving or servings of any size. In contrast, in situations where pre-mixed, packaged flavor agents are combined with pasta by the consumer to prepare coated pasta, a finite number of servings and sizes must be prepared (e.g., one pre-mixed flavor package serves 6 and must all be made at one time).